A flurry of year-end openings offers a bright spot for the New Year of restaurant dining in New Orleans. The reopening of iconic spaces, bringing back memories of Marti’s, MoPho, and Marjie’s, is both positive and bittersweet for diners still mourning their loss.
Crescent City Cafe has served more than 24,000 free breakfasts at Rayne Memorial Methodist Church since 2009. In early 2026, the nonprofit will take over the former Uptown Surrey Cafe at 4807 Magazine Street, adopting a pay-what-you-can model to serve low-income and marginalized members of the New Orleans community with dignity and to build relationships through shared nourishment. According to executive director Adelle Bergman, all will be welcome, regardless of means. “It will be a donation-based restaurant where all guests order from a menu, sit down, and enjoy a dignified dining experience,” she said. “Guests pay what they can — some pay it forward, some give a little — but all are welcome.” Crescent City Cafe joins more than 60 pay-what-you-can cafes in the U.S., including Jon Bon Jovi Soul Kitchen, with four locations in New Jersey, S.A.M.E. (So All May Eat) in Denver, and F.A.R.M. Cafe (Feed All Regardless of Means) in Boone, North Carolina.
It’s all in the name. Yes, St. Mary’s Restaurant is a casual cafe serving Creole and American comfort food, created by chef and co-owner Brad McGehee, in a Metairie strip mall at 4445 W. Metairie Avenue. But the name reflects his partner, Bob Hecker’s, gratitude to St. Mary’s Residential Community and Services, a campus in Alexandria that serves people with severe developmental disabilities, including Hecker’s son, who has lived there for more than 20 years. The restaurant donates 15 percent of its profits to the community. Diners can feel extra good about enjoying dishes such as pork grillades and grits, a Cajun Benedict with boudin, a fried chicken sandwich, and drinks from bar director Daniel Victory, including a serious bloody mary. If McGehee’s name sounds familiar, he created Blue Line Sandwich Co. in Old Metairie more than a decade ago. Sidney Montrel, who worked at Blue Line, is the executive chef…